


“No wise fish would go anywhere without a porpoise.”

by LuciaWilt



Series: Cross Time [6]
Category: Fullmetal Alchemist (Anime 2003), Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood & Manga
Genre: Anxiety Attacks, Crossing Timelines, M/M, Time Shenanigans, What timeline?, doppleganger
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-21
Updated: 2018-01-21
Packaged: 2019-03-07 11:25:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,337
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13433739
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LuciaWilt/pseuds/LuciaWilt
Summary: “I think we need to find out what is going on. Brother gets nervous when I’m gone for too long. Though I must admit I get rather frazzled as well.”





	“No wise fish would go anywhere without a porpoise.”

**Author's Note:**

> While I know that Brotherhood verse Elric brothers care for each other deeply, like almost to the point of obsession, I know that '03 brothers are actually obsessed with each other. Though I'm sure Al is far more rational about things.

When Alphonse got back from lunch with the rest of Team Mustang, Roy decided to take the two young men home for the day. Thankfully, Hawkeye was ok with it, going so far as to drive them back home; though Roy suspected it was because she wanted to be discreet more than anything else. Edward and Alphonse may be out from under the militaries wing span but their visages were still famous across the country. Both were held as heroes. So seeing such a strangely similar yet different version of the two brothers would raise questions everyone wanted to avoid for the time being. 

“Well!” Al chirped, practically straddling Roy as he looked out the window as the town car came to a stop. Ed pushed his way to look out the window as well which only had Roy grunting from the weight of the two boys. They were still small and youthful, but that did not detract from their weight. Plus, Roy wasn’t getting any younger. “So we woke up here this morning!”

Now that was something Roy found interesting. He was able to get the two of them out of the car, dismiss Hawkeye, and lead them up to the door before he started asking about it. “You said you woke up here? Quite intriguing.” Perhaps whatever alchemic circle they got stuck in was linked to a certain position within the universe. Or maybe Roy was just thinking out of his ass and the day had been too hectic for his liking. Either way he shuffled both of them in and they immediately walked around; obviously having known the place from the morning. 

Well, they didn’t exactly walk around. They immediately went to the sitting room and Roy couldn’t help but follow with a chuckle. This is exactly what his Elric brothers would be like if they stuck with the research and the military. The two of them had picked up their counterparts books that had been scattered around Roy’s sitting room and dove right in. 

Roy couldn’t help the swell of pride in his chest.

That was tinged with the rosy glass of…

“Oh? General? May I see your back yard for a few moments? There is something that I was wondering.” Alphonse’s soft, voice broke Roy out of his thoughts. Two sets of golden eyes, one greener than the other, were staring at him. He had been so busy in his romantic day dreams that he didn’t even notice them put their books down. 

Either way he nodded and motioned for the two of them to follow. Once at the back of the house, he allowed them to go in front, pointing to the back door which lead to the yard. 

Both of them went around him.

That was when the air changed.

Roy felt something like this before and honestly he wished he never felt it again. Yet here he was. His skin crawled as a red glow filled the air. When the brothers shared a look of panic, Roy acted on instinct. Someone was doing a human transmutation and it was somehow connected to where they were. He rushed forwards and moved to push the two of them out of the sparking red light. Hell, he was big enough to tackle both of them at the same time. 

For what reason he would do such a thing, he did not know. Yes it was Edward Elric and Alphonse Elric standing in front of him, but it wasn’t like it was “his” Edward and Alphonse. They belonged to a different universe, a different reality; and he wasn’t even sure that was the correct terminology at this point. It was a horribly dark way of looking at it, but his Edward and Alphonse were still out there somewhere. Yet it was like his body acted on auto pilot. It was like this was just the most right thing to do in the world. 

Yet like many times in Roy’s life, he was too late. By the time he hit the red glowing light, his body was thrown backwards down the hall.

~’~

Alphonse woke up to a familiar voice calling his name; along with the familiar feeling of a gloved hand upon his cheek. His golden brown eyelashes fluttered open slowly to find a familiar eye patched face staring down at him. 

He was back. This was his Roy Mustang who looked at him as though he was the sun and the moon and the stars put together. 

And then a startlingly familiar face came into view. Al felt his stomach twist.

It was like a mirror that had slight tweaks was held above him. There was another Alphonse, older and broader, that hovered over him right next to Roy Mustang. He looked worried, as Al himself would have.

But that… 

He slowly sat up and looked around. Just like where he had just been, the three of them were in Roy Mustang’s town house. Yet this one was intimately familiar. Al had been here thousands of times before and hopefully would spend thousands of more hours there. 

“Where’s brother?” Al rubbed the side of his head; the two other men continued to stare at him. 

“I could say the same thing. My Edward was just here.” The older Alphonse said and the room grew silent. “I’m guessing you two were caught up in some sort of human transmutation like we were.”

It wasn’t a question. The young Alphonse looked through the hair that curtained his face. 

“I think we need to find out what is going on. Brother gets nervous when I’m gone for too long. Though I must admit I get rather frazzled as well.” 

Only the man wearing an eye patch knew how true that was. 

~’~

When the red light of the mysterious transmutation faded, Roy opened his eyes; straining to see across the room. The door to the mud room leading to the back of the house had been slammed open when Edward was rammed into them. Well when Edward and Alphonse had been blown back into them. 

Yet from the little time that Roy had known this version of the Elric brothers; he had already memorized the outline of their figures. He had done it with his version of the boys; they were just too important to him at this point in his life. Because of that, he knew that it was not that realities Alphonse Elric who was sitting behind that realities Edward Elric. Quite the opposite actually. Roy walked forwards, rubbing his temples and narrowing and focusing his eyes as much as possible. He still wanted to take it slow, just in case his eyes were deceiving him; which wouldn’t be the first time since the Promise Day and the beginning of his healing process. 

However his first guess had been right. He knew that form and he felt his breath tighten.

It was Roy’s Edward Elric, broader and slightly taller than the Edward Elric practically sitting in his lap.

“Al?” The other realities Edward questioned, eyes closed from the sudden jostling and voice slightly raspy. He reached out with his auto mail hand; into the blurriness around him. Roy couldn’t get their fast enough because the smaller blonde moved, crawling forwards off of Fullmetal’s lap and then stumbling into a standing position. “Al?” He asked again. Roy noticed those golden eyes open and he looked around. First he spotted Roy before he turned to look around the small hallway. He saw nothing before seeing his alternate self. 

The two Edward’s stared at each other with such potent shock written on their faces, Roy felt his stomach twist with anxiety. This wouldn’t end up well. 

Fullmetal’s head tilted to the side, blinking for a few more moments before he glanced around his shorter counterpart and looked at Roy. The two shared a quick silent conversation when Edward’s voice broke the silence. “What?” It was one word but Roy knew there was so much more behind it. “Alphonse?” He used his brother’s full name as he whipped his head around; far more frantic with each passing second. Now Fullmetal stood and was slowly coming closer to his rapidly shattering twin. “Where is my brother?” 

Edward backed up against the hallway wall, almost as though he were trying to hide from both Fullmetal and Roy. The blonde’s hands reached up, grabbing at his skull as he started to shake. “Where is Al?” He chanted Alphonse’s name like a curse, repeating it again and again and again; perhaps thinking the younger of the duo would show up if he did so. Though it was quite obvious to both Roy and Fullmetal that this Edward’s brother was gone. At least gone from where they were that is. Hopefully he was alive; though they could not be sure about that. They just had to calm this Edward down soon or he would hurt himself.

Especially from how hard he was shaking and how hard his breathing was. His leg, both automail and real, collapsed out from underneath him and he fell to the floor. Tears streamed down his face as he started to babble. “I can’t survive without him. The two of us can’t survive without each other.” Fullmetal and Roy looked at each other. That did not sound familiar. It was definitely a difference between the two realities. While his Fullmetal and Alphonse had lived months, if not a year or two, in completely different countries, it seemed as though the opposite was true for the young man sobbing on the floor. “I can’t lose him again. Oh god.” Edward curled in on himself and started to hyperventilate. That was both Fullmetal’s cue and Roy’s to rush to action. While Roy turned and ran back into the kitchen to get some water, Fullmetal crouched down slowly beside Edward.

“I’m sorry that Alphonse is not here right now. However, I’m going to need you to relax your body.” He spoke slowly yet surly, not exactly leaving room for any sort of dissent. It took a few minutes, allowing Roy to quietly come back into the hallway, before Edward even moved. It was just a flinch at first, barely perceptible. There was another second where he stayed stone still before finally he moved. His hands that had been curled around his legs so hard to practically rip his pants loosened their grip. Edward moved his head just a bit so it was not stuffed between his knees. While he was still crying, he was not sobbing like he had been. Tears dropped from his eyes like rain. 

In those brief seconds where the hallway was silent, Fullmetal took his chance. He wrapped his slightly bigger arms around Edward’s frame and pulled him closer. The smaller blonde just fell into Fullmetal’s chest and sighed shakily. “I won’t insult your intelligence and say everything will be alright.” Fullmetal said as he tightened his grasp on the rapidly tiring young man. “But I will tell you that I will honestly try as hard as I can to get us back to the proper place. And I know you will help me get to the bottom of all of this.” Roy knew that was the truth, even as Edward’s golden eyes; still blood shot from the break down he just had, slowly slipped shut. There was another minute or so of strained quiet in the hallway while he and Fullmetal made sure Edward fell asleep before either of them moved. Once they were sure he was in fact asleep, Fullmetal shuffled the smaller Edward into his arms; grunting just a touch.

“I forgot how heavy the complete set of auto mail made me.” Fullmetal muttered as he cradled Edward to his chest. Roy guided him into the spare bedroom that Fullmetal himself had used multiple times in the past. They put the blonde to bed before making their way back to the sitting room where Roy’s fire had been blazing the entire time. The Flame Alchemist stoked it just a bit with a quick snap before pouring a drink for both himself and Ed. 

“Well that was unexpected.” And Roy meant all of it. Ed gave him a look and sat down on the other side of the coffee table from where Roy was seated. 

“I had no idea he would react like that. Though I understand it. Experiencing strange, foreign transmutations are never fun. Kimblee’s had been the worst, though this takes a close second.” Ed said as he sipped the whiskey. 

Roy had heard that story. When they had been searching for a way to get their bodies back and were up North at Briggs, the whole Kimblee incident happened and Ed nearly lost his life. The way he explained it to Roy just a few months ago, Ed lost years off his life but he was here now and that’s all that mattered. Roy couldn’t argue but he just wished Ed wouldn’t be so result oriented thinking. 

“Yes. And from what his Alphonse and this Edward have explained about their Gate, it acts more like a portal than a place that holds knowledge.” Ed’s eyes twinkled with interest and Roy had to raise his hands in defense. “Now don’t go asking me 20 questions Fullmetal. I may be smart but that young man,” He pointed upwards where Edward would be sleeping. “Is still you in some form or fashion. That means he’s still smarter than me by quite a bit.”

Fullmetal blinked and Roy had to pat himself on the back inside his mind for not physically reacting himself to what he just said. He meant to say it, do not get him wrong. Perhaps he was cowardly for saying it now, in the midst of confusion. But who could blame him? It’s been years since he had pursued someone outside of getting a lead for something. 

And this was Edward Elric. This young man was so brilliant it almost blinded Roy even further. 


End file.
